‘The act of a coward’: families share pain and anger during Southport sentencing

Flowers and tributes left near the scene the day after Axel Rudakubana’s fatal attack on the children’s dance class last July. Photograph: James Speakman/PA

After the terror, the heartache and the unending grief – they shared their pain. The families at the heart of this horror, who suffered in silence while hell unfurled around them, sat quietly together in the public gallery as the killer in the dock howled and cried for a paramedic.

A 14-year-old girl, who went to the Taylor Swift dance class in Southport with her younger sister, addressed an empty dock after the attacker was removed from court for a second time.